Tristan and Isolde
by Gigi the Dancer
Summary: It is really a reworking of the old story. Written before movie came out. Written in January.You know the line ill fated lovers? Well here is the prime example... older than Guinevere and Lancelot.
1. Chapter 1

an exercise in vocabulary from January. 

_Tristan and I__solde is of course, the proverbial tale of young lovers. It is a heart -rending tale. Which reads thus:_

After a war which left two countries devastated a truce was called. Tristan the quintessential knight, a great warrior, finally vanquished his mortal enemy, Morhault. Yet he was badly wounded and so his friends took him to Ireland where they souhgt the aid of a famous healer. He fell in love with the Princess Isolde the healer's apprentice, who had tended him. They dreamed of having a life together as he slowly healed from his wounds.

Yet he had a duty. After he recovered he left to honor his fealty and serve King Marc his liegelord.

King Marc was gladdened to see him and lauded his great prowess and courage. After lavishing praise on the knight he gave him the exulted position of Seneschal of all his lands and by a blood oath they became brothers.

King Marc was going to marry the daughter of a King in far distant lands. He could not go and forsake his throne but for a miunute as his courtiers were jealous and shrewd. They, King Marc had no doubt would usurp his throne at any moment. So he sent our hero Tristan to fetch his bride. Tristan did not wish to go but he was already encumbered with the task as he could not refuse his leige lord or his brother.

He found the young woman the most treasured prize of all, the trove of Ireland, in a great castle by the sea. There she waited along with her attendants and slaves. Her nurse Old Branwyn was indeed the jester upon that first long day at sea. She seemed to dispel the shroud upon the small party sailing to distant lands and gave them comfort and cheer.


	2. Chapter 2

Trsistan ands Isolde

**Yes. Again I have lost the manuscript for this story. Now I am using new vocabulary to build this story.Thank you all for your kind patience** Gigi

Yet alas Branwyn's cheer too flagged and waned with despair when she witnessed the great burgeoning storms that loomed over them.yes even in her sagacious wisdom she had forgotten one detail. And believe me, my child it was more signifiicant than small.

The twain smiled at each other mischievously as they opened the bottle sealed with wax. "Old Branywn and her infamous wine." giggled the young woman as she upturned the bottle and quaffed it first. Giving the bottle into Tristan's hands she looked at him. A dreamy smile lit across her features and she giggled. Tristan who was drinking a hearty thirst away, put down the bottle. Looking at the young woman, an ebullient happiness welled up inside him. The couple had done something foolish and callow. Fallen in love.

They ardently and furtively would love each other, that was inexorable. She and he, had drank Old Branwyn's hopes for Isolde's future. Old Branwyn had been saving that love potion for the young princess on her wedding night.

And now it was wasted on an impetuous whim for wine. The lovers would never know why they were so a passionately in love.But they knew that the love was sweet pain.

Before they landed Branwyn had advisd them to stop their affair. And so they ended it, but it was only a hiatus. They did not heed her advice.


	3. My researxh

In reply and clarification for a review:

Thanks for reviewing.

Actually, I have done research on this.

No, it is not based on the movie. I just published it by happy accident near the release of the movie. (And I did not actually see the movie until it came out on DVD.)

I am basing it on the legend Which originated from Wales or Cornwall and it predates the infamous Lancelot Guinevere Arthur love triangle.

Yes. It does. Although my reviewers have told me otherwise, I beg to differ. Tristan and Isolde is a Celtic legend. Tristan is a Pictish name which diffused into the Welsh and Irish cultures. A localization of the tale survives in Cornwall around a Tristan (sp) stone. This place,Cornwall is also associated with King Mark.

Tristan and Isolde was not associated with Arthurian Legend until Sir Malory's _Morte D'Arthur._ This story was used as a foil for the original Guinevere -Mordred -Arthur love triangle. Mordred was originally Arthur's bastard son who stole Guinevere (I believe seduced works too) and usurped the throne. Mordred is later replaced with Lancelot.

Tristan and Isolde first was written down in the 12th c. or 1100s. There was no mention of Arthur. There was also a German retelling, a Norse retelling, and then Malory's _ Morte D'Arthur_.

The late 1200s is the arrival of the French romantic version. This has little mention of King Arthur. This is called the _Roman de Tristan_. This period in French oral tradition is obsessed with the ideals of chivalry and romance. The Court of Eleanor D'Aquitaine was one of the most worldly, and made the romances a favorite past time. Supposedly she was the patron Of Chretien de Troyes. Who expanded on the Arthurian legends and first told of the Holy Grail, the **Lancelot **love triangle and he writes about King Mark and Iseult (Sp) but does not mention a Tristan...


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